The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-01-28
CHrNEsE JUSTICE.
A Country which Dlspenses With the Ser.
vices OF Lawyers-Capital Punish
ment Met by Proxy.

II may be of interest TO know that in
one country. and the largest one at
that there are no lawyers. The methods
OF reaching a conclusion in questions OF
law in the Chinese empire are perhaps
too direct and speedy 10 require the in
tervention of that profession. There is
no trial by jury and no continued cases
or long accumulated dockets. There
are no circuits or specially convenient
courts TO dispose of accommodating
causes. The country is divided into
three jurisdictional districts, with
judicial head for each, and these in
turn are subdivided into smaller dis
tricts, with local resident magistrates,
who reside permanently in the courts,
or '.ya mems" as they are called, and
are ready at any hour of the day or
night, the year round, to hear and de-
eide any and all cases, civil and crimi-
nal that may come up.
There are no established police apart
from the army and navy. All cities are
inclosed in substantial walls, with four
gates or entrances. and these are closed
at o'clock at night and guard of
soldiers placed on duty to prevent any
one from passing in or out without a
passport Every citizen has the right to
arrest an offender on the spot, and it is
no uncommon sight to see connection
in the street caused by a merchant or
shopman leading some luckless devil to
the Office Of the mandarin, or magistrate,
to lodge a complaint which consists
simply in relating the transgression of
the defendant.
The magistrate Immediately conyenes
court and asks the defendant to explain
himself. 1.-The does not at once confess,
which Is generally the case, process
of the most rigid direct questioning
brings out the story. If the witness does
not talk with fluent tongue a little
stimulant is administered in the ante
room in the shape of well-seasoned
bamboo applied not infrequently on the
bare back. This never fails to elicit the
facts in the case. Such penalty as is
judged proper is then pronounced and
executed on the spot There is no APP
peal.
The most common cases are those of
petty pilfering, and the penalty in such
cases consists in a given number of
lashes aud so many DAYS in the
''caugue. This is a square wooden
yoke, about two feet across, with an
opening in the center to fit around the
neck. This is adjusted and locked,
and wax seal is affixed in such way
that the yoke can not be removed with
out breaking the seal The convict is
then required to patrol the locality of
his crime for the required time, say
thirty to sixty days, at the end of which
term he returns to the court" and the
seal is examined and, if all right, re-
moved. There are no jails, and it would
be worth mans life to tamper with
the seal or attempt to escape. 1t is a
common sight in any Chinese city to see
these men, with sulIen, subdued coun-
tenances, standing idly on the streets,
the unwelcome cynosure of passers-by.
Collection of debts is not under the
cognizance of the courts. If man
sells goods on credit he takes his
chances ofgetting his pay. A sttictly
cash basis In all commercial transac-
tons is the result The credit system is
practiced only where the fullest conf
dence is felt and credits even then are
low, and one failure to pay DESTROYS
ones chances of any future credit. The
"sitting out" method of collecting small
debts is practiced. / went three differ
emit times in the course of one day to a
shoe-mender to get my boot cobbled,
aud the shoemaker was absent and a
stranger sat speeches. and glum in the
shoemaker's bench. Urgent appeals to
the lady of the house elected the inform
alton that her 'old man" owed the
stranger little bill and he was waiting
for his money-and he waited until the
debtor paid him in order to get rid of
him.
When controversies arise as to the
dividing line between estates applica-
ton is made to the magistrate, who
sends committee of his official at
taches. Of whom every officer has a
score or more, who inquire into the
case, andif the case is complicated they
most generally strike a general average
and plant corner-stones, which are
painted white; and this decision is final.
There is no appeal.
Capital punishment is the severest
penalty for malefactors, and. as far as ]
was enabled to discover, there were no
specified degrees or class of crimes
which fell under its provisions, its en-
forcement depending more on the within
of the officer and the general surround
ings than upon the crime per Sc. Will
full murder, piracy, and confirmed
thieves fall under the headsman's ak.
Infanticide, however, is not included
in murder. The parent by Chinese
law, has the right of life over his own
child. Hence, the practice of female
infantcide
Adultery falls under the life penalty at
the will Of the aggrieved party. Thus,
husband detecting his wife in
adultery can 60 to the magistrate and
demand the capital punishment of one
or both parties to the crime; or, he may
take the lives of the offenders himself
and not be amenable if he can prove the
truth. If, however, he fails to substan-
tiate the crime alleged, he is held guilty
of murder and punished accordingly.
Capital punishment can be met by
proxy and the law be satisfied. It is
not uncommon, therefore, when a man
of money is sentenced to death, that he
can by the use of money secure a stay
of proceedings long enough to obtain a
substitute. This IS done by making an
offer of 100, 200, or more hundred
''taels" (ounces of silver, about 1873 1-3
cents our standard) for o substitute.
Some impecunious family, often having
two hundred or three hundred male
members, as the patriarchal plan of
domestic economy prevails, will agree
among themselves that they will furnish
substitute for the proffered sum. Lot
is then cast to determine the victim, and
the doomed man accepts his fate with
stoical indifference, upon the ultra-pre-
destination theory that his time has
come, else the lot would not have fallen
upon him individually. He according
ly presents himself to the court, and the
convicted man dies by proxy, while the
family of the deceased enjoy the pro-
ceeds of the arrangement Bon Ton in
Columbia Jslrist.